Entrepreneurship in practice
O Grooming students to become successful entrepreneurs
BERJAYA University College’s (BERJAYA UC) pedagogy transcends traditional teaching methods. Located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, students are immersed in real-life settings, preparing them to be professionals and future leaders. This is a paradigm BERJAYA UC refers to as “BERJAYA Immersion Methodology.”
The institution’s Faculty of Business holds the belief that the ability to become an entrepreneur is not limited to one holding a degree in Business Management. To ensure every student is offered the opportunity to become successful in business, a module titled ‘Entrepreneurship Development’ was offered.
Recently, those studying under this module gave presentations featuring three-dimensional (3-D) models of a business plan they had in mind. As a part of this project, students came together as groups to conceptualise a business from any industry of their choice. Projects ranged from Food and Beverage (F&B) services to tailoring services.
Many of the students said the module gave them a foretaste of what to expect as future entrepreneurs. Diploma of Culinary Arts student, Kok Wei Hou said, “We struggled with ideas even though everyone had an idea of what they wanted to do. The issue was bringing our ideas together while trying to be unique at the same time.”
His group managed to conceptualise a bakery-style cafe with a focus on alcoholinfused cakes. They were not the only group inspired by pastries; Diploma in Patisserie student, Ng Jia Xin, and Diploma in Events Management student, Ong Jia-Yun, developed the idea of a wholesaler business for a dessert catering service with a focus on matcha-based products.
Diploma in Events Management students, Soong Sze Wei and Lee Chai Foong opted for a wedding planning business instead, which involved creating themed weddings and designing custom-made wedding dresses.
“There’s are many wedding businesses in Malaysia, but it’s very standard a lot of the time; brides also tend to use rented dresses. We want customers to have their dream wedding, and we want brides to be able to wear the dress of their dreams and keep it as a memento,” said Soong.
Speaking on the viability of the venture, Lee said the main business would be wedding planning, and the profits from this would supplement the tailoring aspect: “We had to be thorough when explaining to everyone what our business would be like. It was one thing to think about the creative side of our business, but it was something else to consider the financial side of it.”
The students felt that the experience was enjoyable and would be useful if they opted to become entrepreneurs upon graduation. Visit www.berjaya.edu.my for more information.